DOCSLIB.ORG

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma Thursday, August 18, 2016, 8pm Hearst Greek Theatre The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma Kinan Azmeh, clarinet Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh Jeffrey Beecher, bass Yo-Yo Ma, cello Mike Block, cello Cristina Pato, Galician bagpipes, piano Nicholas Cords, viola Shane Shanahan, percussion Sandeep Das, tabla Mark Suter, percussion Haruka Fujii, percussion Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi Johnny Gandelsman, violin Wu Man, pipa Joseph Gramley, percussion Wu Tong, sheng, suona Colin Jacobsen, violin Cristina Pato, Wu Tong Fanfare for Gaita and Suona Traditional Malian, arr. Shane Shanahan Ichichila Traditional Irish, arr. Colin Jacobsen O’Neill’s Cavalry March Wu Man, arr. Ljova Green (Vincent’s Tune) Kinan Azmeh, Jeffrey Beecher Syrian Improvisation Michio Mamiya Miero vuotti uutta kuuta, from Five Finnish Folksongs Wu Man, Wu Tong Duo Colin Jacobsen Atashgah* Sandeep Das, Kojiro Umezaki If you shall return... † Antonín Dvořák, arr. Jeremy Kittel Going Home Billy Strayhorn, arr. Shane Shanahan Take the “A” Train** INTERMISSION David Bruce Cut the Rug *** Drag the goat – Bury the hatchet – Move the earth – Wake the dead Paco de Lucía, arr. Colin Jacobsen Zyryab Kinan Azmeh Wedding * Commissioned by the Laguna Beach Music Festival for Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider and premiered in 2011. ** Arrangement commissioned by Reservoir Media for The Silk Road Ensemble in 2015. *** Commissioned by Silkroad in 2012. † Commissioned by Silkroad and dedicated to Anna and Peter Davol, with deep affection and thanks. This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith. 15 PROGRAM NOTES here are many different kinds of home— In 2007, Yo-Yo suggested that we use the art and physical, childhood, those that we build tradition of indigo dyeing to connect disciplines Tin our memories, and many others. Silk - and cultures in our work with elementary road is a creative home for me and for mem - school students. During the course of that ex - bers of The Silk Road Ensemble, a place where ploration, Harvard musicologist Ingrid Monson we return to explore new artistic languages, to shared this song with me. Ichichila is a tune tra - encounter friends and strangers, and to find joy ditionally sung by the Tuareg people while dye - in unexpected connections. One of the ways we ing textiles in indigo pits, and its groove comes have deepened our relationships over the years from the rhythm of textiles being plunged in is by bringing each other home. Over the course and out of the dye with long sticks. I was drawn of this evening, we invite you to join us as we to this rhythmic foundation, to the song’s re - share what home sounds like for many of us. laxed vibe, and to the way the music was used to As you listen, I think you will hear how dif - ease the burden of difficult work. ferent our homes are. For us, this is one of the —Shane Shanahan great pleasures of Silkroad: we celebrate differ - ence; we cultivate curiosity in our exploration The great Irish fiddler Martin Hayes intro - and generosity in our sharing. In our home, duced us to O’Neill’s Cavalry March —a tune something completely unfamiliar presents a I understand to be so iconic in the Irish tradi - precious opportunity to build something new. tion that it is almost a cliche. The bones of this Many of the selections tonight represent old tune, which dates back to the early 1800s, music that ensemble members have written or are so strong that it has weathered various arranged for the group over the years. I am par - treatments over the years. When I first heard ticularly excited to share this aspect of what we Martin play it, I was captured by its solitary, do; I believe that by writing or arranging music, stoic character, and yet immediately felt that a musician goes beyond knowing and express - there was a way to add layers of instruments ing a tradition and becomes an agent of its evo - and subtle hints of harmony. Featured in the lution, creating something new. instrumentation are the sounds of Kayhan Kal - Welcome to our home. hor’s kamancheh , as well as Kojiro Umezaki’s —Yo-Yo Ma shakuhachi , Wu Man’s pipa , and a complement (adapted from liner notes from of Western strings. The Silk Road Ensemble’s latest recording, —Colin Jacobsen Sing Me Home, Sony Masterworks, 2016) I wrote Green (Vincent’s Tune) as part of the The Fanfare for Gaita and Suona was devel - suite Blue–Red–Green for The Silk Road oped by ensemble members Cristina Pato and Ensemble. When my son Vincent was four Wu Tong to explore the idea of connecting two years old, he would often run around singing sides of the world—Europe and Asia—through this tune. One day I asked him where he had a musical dialog between two instruments that heard it, and he said, “I don’t know, Mommy. have in common a powerful sonority and a pro - I made it up.” I was so struck by his melody that found relationship with their respective tradi - I turned it into a composition as a way to cap - tions. This open call between the gaita (Galician ture his youth and the wonderful times we bagpipes) and suona (Chinese horn) launches spent together. this evening’s program with a conversation be - The piece is named after my favorite color. tween traditional wind instruments as they at - Green represents spring, when everything tempt to understand, connect with, and respect grows and has renewed energy and enthusi - each other’s cultural roots. asm—much like a four-year-old child. —Isabelle Hunter —Wu Man 16 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES Michio Mamiya's compositions were greatly pressed them was an ancient fire temple, or influenced by his insatiable curiosity about the atashgah , outside the city of Esfahan. Originally traditional music of his native Japan, along with built as a holy site for the Zoroastrian religion in that of Scandinavia and Africa. His long and the Sassanid period of Iran’s history (third to distinguished career as one of Japan’s leading sixth centuries CE), it felt to these travelers like musical figures serves as an inspiration to The a place of significant power—a place that makes Silk Road Ensemble. Early on in his life as a one aware of the layers of history. For Jacobsen, composer, Mamiya became fascinated with the the experience of listening to Kalhor play music Sami people of Finland (also known as the can be “like watching a fire in a fireplace; it is Lapps), the indigenous people of sub-Arctic mesmerizing, hypnotic, and yet constantly Scandinavia who represent a somewhat sur - changing. His music comes from a deep inner prising musical and linguistic connection to the creative fire.” Jacobsen caught a spark of that East. Inspired to explore deeper, Mamiya trav - creative fire, and on returning from Iran that eled to Finland to study its indigenous music, summer, was inspired by his experience to do following his studies in Western classical com - something with what he had heard and en - position at the Tokyo Academy. Tonight’s selec - countered. He has been writing and arranging tion, Miero vuotti uutta kuuta (a song of the music ever since, and Atashgah , composed for new moon) is a brief but loving snapshot of kamancheh and Western strings, is one result of these encounters and is excerpted from that inspiration. Mamiya's larger 1977 collection for cello and —Isabelle Hunter piano, Five Finnish Folksongs. —Nicholas Cords The story of If You Shall Return… started when tabla player Sandeep Das whispered a re - When ensemble members Nicholas Cords and peating musical theme characteristic of Bhatiali Colin Jacobsen visited Kayhan Kalhor in Iran boat songs from the Bengali-speaking regions in the summer of 2004 on a Silkroad-sponsored of the Brahmaputra River. As in a game of mu - cultural exchange, one of many sights that im - sical telephone, the whispered theme quickly 17 PROGRAM NOTES transformed in the ears and instruments of tently plagued by malfunctioning PA systems, other ensemble members, changing in musical clattering breakdowns, and stalls, some of mode and rhythmic emphasis, and evolving which I have tried to portray in this arrange - with the addition of a new melody inspired by ment. I was very excited by the opportunity to Jiangnan Sizhu (silk and bamboo music of the create a Silkroad version of this very familiar lower reaches of the Yangtze River). tune. Our unusual instrumentation presented Emerging from those core elements is a form some intriguing possibilities and I hoped to that is steps away from an archetype common make a piece that would be a unique addition to to jazz charts, a foundation that welcomes many the already plentiful catalog of “‘A’ Train” different musical voices. arrangements. Once out of sight of the shores of the river, —Shane Shanahan once beyond the threshold, once transformed, what will have changed if you—the boatman, When composer David Bruce developed Cut the lover—shall return? the Rug for The Silk Road Ensemble in 2012, —Kojiro Umezaki he was inspired not only by the concept of the Silk Road but by filmmaker Tony Gatlif’s doc - Silkroad is a connector and a bridge builder; its umentary Latcho Drom , which explores the music is vitally reflective of our shared human - broad, multicultural embrace of Roma, or ity and our global trajectories, and plays a nat - gypsy, music. “The idea of all these diverse but ural role in the need for greater cross-cultural equally vibrant musics being part of one large exchange. It seems that Dvořák would have family has always appealed to me,” David says, been a kindred spirit in these matters.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • All Terrain String Festival Press Release
    Press Contact: Blake Zidell Blake Zidell & Associates 718.643.9052 [email protected] For Immediate Release February 6, 2017 PEAK PERFORMANCES’ ALL TERRAIN STRING FESTIVAL: BOLCOM 4x4 PAYS TRIBUTE TO COMPOSER WILLIAM BOLCOM, MARCH 31 – APRIL 2 Festival Celebrating String Quartet Composition and Performance Will Feature Arditti Quartet, Chiara String Quartet, Harlem Quartet and Shanghai Quartet, and Acclaimed Guest Artists Including Jazz Bassist John Patitucci and Classical Guitarist Eliot Fisk Program Includes the World Premiere of Bolcom’s String Quartet No. 12, by Shanghai Quartet, and the New York / New Jersey Premiere of His String Quartet No. 8, by Arditti Quartet, as well as a Genre-Spanning Range of Classic and Contemporary Music Shanghai Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, Will Join the Other Featured Quartets, in Addition to Headlining a Concert of Their Own Peak Performances presents All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4x4 Featuring Arditti Quartet, Chiara String Quartet, Harlem Quartet and Shanghai Quartet March 31 – April 2 The Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University (1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ) Ticket Prices: $20 per concert; Saturday Pass (two concerts and Mingle with the Musicians Dinner), $60; All-Festival Pass, $90 To Purchase: www.peakperfs.org or 973.655.5112 Peak Performances is pleased to present All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4x4, a three-day festival in which four of the world’s foremost string quartets will perform the work of prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer William Bolcom, along with music by a wide variety of other composers, from Mozart to Dizzy Gillespie.
    [Show full text]
  • Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UPDATED January 13, 2015 January 7, 2015 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC Alan Gilbert To Conduct SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE with YO-YO MA Alongside the New York Philharmonic in Concerts Celebrating the Silk Road Ensemble’s 15TH ANNIVERSARY Program To Include The Silk Road Suite and Works by DMITRI YANOV-YANOVSKY, R. STRAUSS, AND OSVALDO GOLIJOV February 19–21, 2015 FREE INSIGHTS AT THE ATRIUM EVENT “Traversing Time and Trade: Fifteen Years of the Silkroad” February 18, 2015 The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma will perform alongside the New York Philharmonic, led by Alan Gilbert, for a celebration of the innovative world-music ensemble’s 15th anniversary, Thursday, February 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m. Titled Sacred and Transcendent, the program will feature the Philharmonic and the Silk Road Ensemble performing both separately and together. The concert will feature Fanfare for Gaita, Suona, and Brass; The Silk Road Suite, a compilation of works commissioned and premiered by the Ensemble; Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky’s Sacred Signs Suite; R. Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration; and Osvaldo Golijov’s Rose of the Winds. The program marks the Silk Road Ensemble’s Philharmonic debut. “The Silk Road Ensemble demonstrates different approaches of exploring world traditions in a way that — through collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination — allows each to flourish and evolve within its own frame,” Yo-Yo Ma said.
    [Show full text]
  • Kronos Quartet Prelude to a Black Hole Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 Aleksandra Vrebalov, Composer Bill Morrison, Filmmaker
    KRONOS QUARTET PRELUDE TO A BLACK HOLE BeyOND ZERO: 1914-1918 ALeksANDRA VREBALOV, COMPOSER BILL MORRISon, FILMMAKER Thu, Feb 12, 2015 • 7:30pm WWI Centenary ProJECT “KRONOs CONTINUEs With unDIMINISHED FEROCity to make unPRECEDENTED sTRING QUARtet hisTORY.” – Los Angeles Times 22 carolinaperformingarts.org // #CPA10 thu, feb 12 • 7:30pm KRONOS QUARTET David Harrington, violin Hank Dutt, viola John Sherba, violin Sunny Yang, cello PROGRAM Prelude to a Black Hole Eternal Memory to the Virtuous+ ....................................................................................Byzantine Chant arr. Aleksandra Vrebalov Three Pieces for String Quartet ...................................................................................... Igor Stravinsky Dance – Eccentric – Canticle (1882-1971) Last Kind Words+ .............................................................................................................Geeshie Wiley (ca. 1906-1939) arr. Jacob Garchik Evic Taksim+ ............................................................................................................. Tanburi Cemil Bey (1873-1916) arr. Stephen Prutsman Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis+ ........................................................................................Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) arr. JJ Hollingsworth Smyrneiko Minore+ ............................................................................................................... Traditional arr. Jacob Garchik Six Bagatelles, Op. 9 .....................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Music for a New Day Artist Bio
    Music for a New Day Artist bio Fariba Davody: Fariba Davody is a musician, vocalist, and teacher who first captured public eye performing classical Persian songs in Iran, and donating her proceeds from her show. She performed a lot of concerts and festivals such as the concert in Agha khan museum in 2016 in Toronto , concerts with Kiya Tabassian in Halifax and Montreal, and Tirgan festival in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 in Toronto. Fariba opened a Canadian branch of Avaye Mehr music and art school where she continues to teach. Raphael Weinroth-Browne: Canadian cellist and composer Raphael Weinroth- Browne has forged a uniQue career and international reputation as a result of his musical creativity and versatility. Not confined to a single genre or project, his musical activities encompass a multitude of styles and combine influences from contemporary classical, Middle Eastern, and progressive metal music. His groundbreaking duo, The Visit, has played major festivals such as Wave Gotik Treffen (Germany), 21C (Canada), and the Cello Biennale Amsterdam (Netherlands). As one half of East-meets-West ensemble Kamancello, he composed “Convergence Suite,” a double concerto which the duo performed with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra to a sold out audience. Raphael's cello is featured prominently on the latest two albums from Norwegian progressive metal band Leprous; he has played over 150 shows with them in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Raphael has played on over 100 studio albums including the Juno Award-winning Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (Woods of Ypres) and Juno-nominated UpfRONt (Ron Davis’ SymphRONica) - both of which feature his own compositions/arrangements - as well as the Juno-nominated Ayre Live (Miriam Khalil & Against The Grain Ensemble).
    [Show full text]
  • Masking Their True Talent, Volunteer Musicians Get to Work
    16 | Tuesday, April 7, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE The sounds of succor Prominent Chinese musicians provide comfort and support during the pandemic with online shows, Chen Nan reports. n these days of anxiety, I wanted to find a way to con- tinue to share some of the music that gives me com- ‘Ifort,” says Yo-Yo Ma, the renowned cellist, who has been trying to pro- vide succor during the coronavirus pandemic. Since March 14, Ma has been post- ing videos of himself performing short music pieces on his social media platforms. The first video he posted was his rendition of Antonin Dvorak’s Going Home from 1893’s Symphony No 9 and then on March 17, he post- ed: “This is for the healthcare work- ers on the front lines — the Sarabande from Bach’s Cello Suite No 3. Your ability to balance human connection and scientific truth in service of us all gives me hope.” All his videos are posted using the hashtag #SongsOfComfort, which is an idea he came up with spontane- ously. “I was in the office one day and we were talking like ‘let’s do some- thing in this time that actually serves people’s needs’. Somehow, music has always been comforting to me. This is what I do and this is the best that I can offer. I know that people are doing everything that they can to help in whatever way they know how,” the cellist says in an interview with PBS NewsHour at his home in Massachusetts, the Somehow, music has United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Kayhan Kalhor/Erdal Erzincan the Wind
    ECM Kayhan Kalhor/Erdal Erzincan The Wind Kayhan Kalhor: kamancheh; Erdal Erzincan: baglama; Ulaş Özdemir: divan baglama ECM 1981 CD 6024 985 6354 (0) Release: September 26, 2006 After “The Rain”, his Grammy-nominated album with the group Ghazal, comes “The Wind”, a documentation of Kayhan Kalhor’s first encounter with Erdal Erzincan. It presents gripping music, airborne music indeed, pervasive, penetrating, propelled into new spaces by the relentless, searching energies of its protagonists. Yet it is also music firmly anchored in the folk and classical traditions of Persia and Turkey. Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kalhor does not undertake his transcultural projects lightly. Ghazal, the Persian-Indian ‘synthesis’ group which he initiated with sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan followed some fifteen years of dialogue with North Indian musicians, in search of the right partner. “Because I come from a musical background which is widely based on improvisation, I really like to explore this element with players from different yet related traditions, to see what we can discover together. I’m testing the water – putting one foot to the left, so to speak, in Turkey. And one foot to the right, in India. I’m between them. Geographically, physically, musically. And I’m trying to understand our differences. What is the difference between Shujaat and Erdal? Which is the bigger gap? And where will this lead?” Kayhan began his association with Turkish baglama master Erdal Erzincan by making several research trips, in consecutive years, to Istanbul, collecting material, looking for pieces that he and Erdal might play together. He was accompanied on his journeys by musicologist/player Ulaş Özdemir who also served as translator and eventually took a supporting role in the Kalhor/Erzincan collaboration.
    [Show full text]
  • Kinan Azmeh Cityband THU / FEB 7 / 7:30 PM
    Kinan Azmeh CityBand THU / FEB 7 / 7:30 PM Kinan Azmeh CLARINET Kyle Sanna GUITAR Josh Myers BASS John Hadfield PERCUSSION Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage. There will be no intermission. PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 6 Tsang Connie by Photo ABOUT THE ARTIST KINAN AZMEH (CLARINET) Hailed as a “virtuoso” and “intensely soulful” by The New York Times and “spellbinding” by The New Yorker, Kinan’s utterly distinctive sound, crossing different musical genres, has gained him international recognition as a clarinetist and composer. Kinan was recently composer-in-residence with Classical Movements for the 2017/18 season. Kinan has toured the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN's general assembly, New York; the Royal Albert Hall, London; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; der Philharmonie, Berlin; the Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; and the Damascus Opera His discography includes three albums Kinan is a graduate of New York's House for its opening concert in his with his ensemble, Hewar, several Juilliard School as a student of native Syria. soundtracks for film and dance, a duo Charles Neidich, both of the album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne and Damascus High Institutes of Music He has appeared as soloist with the an album with his New York Arabic/Jazz where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, New York Philharmonic, the Seattle quartet, the Kinan Azmeh CityBand. Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, Symphony, the Bavarian Radio He serves as artistic director of the and of Damascus University’s School Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Damascus Festival Chamber Players, of Electrical Engineering in his native Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic and a pan-Arab ensemble dedicated to Syria.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rose Art Museum Presents Syrian-Armenian Artist Kevork
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nina J. Berger, [email protected] 617.543.1595 THE ROSE ART MUSEUM PRESENTS SYRIAN-ARMENIAN ARTIST KEVORK MOURAD’S IMMORTAL CITY “Culture Cannot Wait” program brings experts in preserving cultural heritage to Brandeis campus (Waltham, Mass.) – The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University presents Immortal City, an exhibition of new paintings by acclaimed Syrian-Armenian artist Kevork Mourad created in response to the war in Syria and the destruction of the artist’s beloved city of Aleppo, September 8, 2017 – January 21, 2018. A public opening reception to celebrate the museum’s fall exhibition season will be held 6–9 pm on Saturday, October 14. Kevork Mourad (b. Syria 1970) is known for paintings made spontaneously in collaboration with composers, dancers, and musicians. Of Armenian descent, Mourad performs in his art both a vital act of remembering and a poetic gesture of creativity in the face of tragedy, as he mediates the experience of trauma through finely wrought, abstracted imagery that celebrates his rich cultural heritage even as he mourns its loss. Mourad’s paintings ask viewers to stop and bear witness, to see the fragments of a culture destroyed – textiles, ancient walls, Arabic calligraphy, and bodies crushed by war. Using a unique method that incorporates monoprinting and his own technique of applying paint with one finger in a sweeping gesture, Mourad produces paintings that are fantastical, theatrical, and lyrical, the line reflecting the music that is such an integral part of his practice. An 18th-century etching from the Rose’s permanent collection by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranisi will accompany Mourad’s work and locate Mourad's practice within a centuries-old artistic interest and fascination with the city in ruins.
    [Show full text]
  • Old and New Works on Orchestra Program | Town Topics
    1/7/2020 Old and New Works On Orchestra Program | Town Topics December 18, 2019 Old and New Works On Orchestra Program WORLD PREMIERE: Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh is soloist in a new work by Saad Haddad, on the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s programs January 18 and 19. (Photo by Martina Novak) On Saturday, January 18 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, January 19 at 4 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) performs Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s popular work Scheherazade, Op. 35 on a program with the world premiere of composer Saad Haddad’s Clarinet Concerto. A commission of the PSO and the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University, the concerto features Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Jacques Ibert’s Escales (Ports of Call) completes the program to be conducted by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov. Rimsky-Korsakov was influenced by explorer Richard Francis Burton’s 1885 translation of One Thousand and One Nights (the Arabian Nights) enough to craft a symphonic suite centered on its heroine. Ibert’s Escales recounts the sights and sounds of a Mediterranean coastal excursion, and composer Saad Haddad draws upon his Middle Eastern ancestry to create a work conveying a universal spirit of cooperation among fellow human beings. His new concerto is dedicated to the memory of his grandfather, who led Haddad’s mother and her extended family away from war-torn Lebanon to the United States. This is the second world premiere of a work by Haddad, co- commissioned by the PSO, and the third work overall of his performed by the orchestra since January 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Café Damas Kinen Azmeh
    New York Philharmonic Presents their many complexities and hidden hyper- Café Damas, which receives its World activity, primarily through timbre. The second Premiere in this performance, draws on movement is centered around the role of Azmeh’s relationship to the New York Phil- spatial and temporal organization of musical harmonic, “the Biggest Band in New York” ideas as well as the physical and contextual (with which he has worked twice before, questioning of music repetition. The third once as a performer and once as a com- movement both summarizes the two pre- poser), as well as his relationship to his vious movements and adds to them other hometown of Damascus. He said: elements dear to me: virtual polyphony (the il- lusion of a bigger instrumental force), internal I wanted to bring the musicians of the and external counterpoint, stylistic plurality at Philharmonic closer to my home, both the service of the music material, and close conceptually and culturally. This work is structuring of transitions and proportions. inspired by the idea of an imaginary tra- ditional house band in a 1960s café in Composer, clarinet soloist, and improviser Damascus, a band that has not changed Kinan Azmeh was born in Damascus, Syria, personnel nor location for decades and and lives in New York City. He is the rare mu- continued to play in spite of all. Musically sician who elegantly shifts roles from creator speaking, this piece enjoys a rather tra- to interpreter, writing for and performing with ditional form that opens with a Taqasi¯m some of the most iconic musicians alive to- (melodic improvisation), which introduc- day, including frequent collaborator Yo-Yo Ma.
    [Show full text]
  • Applied Experiments in Collaboration Along the Silk Road
    This is the version of the article accepted for publication in The World of Music published by VWB: http://www.journaltheworldofmusic.com/planned.html#Sharing Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26018 Applied experiments in collaboration along the Silk Road Rachel Harris (SOAS, University of London) Abstract This paper considers the nature of work done in performances that seek to “create bridges” across cultures and to highlight shared heritage across political borders. What agendas are privileged, and what forms of representation are entailed? I explore these issues via case studies in musical collaboration along the “Silk Road”, the ancient trade routes brought to life in the contemporary imagination to link cultures from Europe to East Asia. I privilege the perspectives of the various actors involved, arguing that careful attention to the experiences of participants serve to texture our understanding of cultural border-crossings. Music-making, as a form of embodied practice, may serve as a way of deconstructing conventional narratives but it may also serve to uphold established hierarchies. I argue that in cross-border encounters musicians draw on diverse imaginaries – learned aesthetic norms, bodily habitus and imaginative resources – casting their collaborators as musical and social others in their efforts to make sense of what they hear. Bio Rachel Harris teaches ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London, and is series co- editor of the SOAS Musicology Series. She is the author of Singing the Village, Making a Musical Canon in Central Asia, and co-editor of Gender in Chinese Music, and Pieces of the Musical World.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrated Virtuoso Kalhor Granted WOMEX 19 Award
    Art & Culture August 11, 2019 3 This Day in History Celebrated Virtuoso Kalhor This Day in History (August 11) Today is Sunday; 20th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Zil-Hijjah 1440 lunar hijri; and August 11, 2019 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar. Today is the Day of Arafa, which means striving to gain proper and profound Granted WOMEX 19 Award cognition of God Almighty. It is a day of great blessings for mankind. It is the sical music tradition to the ears of people all Frerichs Trio, Kalhor’s musical partnerships day on which God the All-Merciful accepted the repentance of the Father of the human race, Adam, after he was cast out of the Garden for eating of the over the world, Piranha Arts, the organisers are many and the results are invariably world- fruit of the tree that was forbidden to him as a divine test. It is the day when of WOMEX presented the WOMEX Artist class. Abraham as per God’s commandment, revived Adam’s tradition to spend the Award 2019 to Kayhan Kalhor, according to On confirming his attendance to receive the day in supplication and prayer on the plain of Arafaat around the “Jabal ar- the event’s website. WOMEX Artist Award 2019, Kayhan Kalhor Rahma” (Mount Mercy), southeast of Mecca. It is the day whose significance all Prophets of God had emphasized to their nations. It is the day when during Receiving the prestigious award at the 25th shared: his farewell pilgrimage, the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet jubilee edition of WOMEX in Tampere, Fin- “Receiving the WOMEX Artist Award means Mohammad (SAWA), delivered a memorable sermon from atop Mount Mercy, land, on Sunday 27 October, Kayhan Kalhor so much to me.
    [Show full text]